


Creating Ourselves For Each Other

by Ausphin



Category: TAU - Fandom, Tau (2018)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Canon Continuation, Gen, Robots, Sometimes a family is a girl and her robot going to college, Tau spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 16:15:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15295308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ausphin/pseuds/Ausphin
Summary: Julia: My creators did bad things to me, too. Things that hurt me.Tau: But you still obey them? Because they created you?Julia: No. They gave me life, but I did the rest. I created me. You understand? We grow up, and we become our own creators.Tau: For what purpose do we create ourselves?Julia: For each other.Continuing where the movie ended, a brief addition as Julia makes her way home and gets settled with Tau in tow





	Creating Ourselves For Each Other

 

The trip back to her home was... tiring.

Julia followed the road a few miles until she happened onto a bus stop, shooing away people who offered to let her hitchhike. She'd seen enough skeletons hiding behind normal faces for today. For a lifetime maybe.

Tau spent most of the trip questioning what they saw. The grass, the trees, the flowers, the cars. Begrudgingly, Tau listened when she said to keep quiet on the bus but seemed to be brimming with questions. Sure enough, once they'd reached the city and more privacy they were launched rapidfire. 'What is a bus?' 'Who are the other people there?' 'Did they come from houses like Alex's too?'

Julia answered them all one by one, noting that the LED on the cleaning drone dimmed when they mentioned Alex. Neither of them said anything about it but it seemed clear Tau was aware of what had happened.

No more than five minutes from her home, Tau spoke up again. “Julia, my battery is low. I need to go into power-saving mode.”

“Wait!” The light dimmed as she stared at it. “A class-two whatever A.I. and your battery only lasts a few hours? I didn't know you were an Apple product.”

With a sigh, she inspected the drone until she found where a plug would go. But not one she'd ever seen before. Groaning, Julia went in her house just long enough to raid the fridge for last morsels and fish for some of her saved money. She'd grabbed what she could during the panicked escape but after the bus ride there was little left. Then on to the nearest electronics store.

-=-=-=

“What kind of toy is that?”

“Sorry, can't help you.”

“Get out of here with that indie shit! I only sell name-brand tech!”

The third store - and definitely the rudest - was another strike-out. The fourth proved more fruitful. “I think I recognize this,” she paused to give Julia a scrutinizing look, “from some of PSI's promo material. Where would - no offense - a street rat like you find something like this?”

There was some offense. “A gift from a friend,” she deadpanned.

“Right. Of course.” The clerk studied the drone for a moment. “I can't stock anything from a prototype obviously, but I should be able to make you something that will fit it. It'll take some time and cash though.”

Julia stared at the reactionless camera 'eye' of the drone as she considered, one hand nervously gripping the wad of bills she'd grabbed. She'd scrounged for months for college, taking what she could without relying on anyone she didn't have to. Could she really give that away for what may as well be a paperweight at the moment?

“Okay, what do you need?”

-=-=-=

A painful parting with most of her money later, she sat on a countertop watching untrustingly as the shop clerk wound wires together. There were always more pockets to pick. Julia kept a firm protective hold on Tau, letting her see the plug but not hold the drone.

“You know that's probably worth a fortune, right? If not to you, to anyone else who sees it. I've seen you hocking phones, not sure why you'd care about a flying roomba.”

“Not sure why you'd care if I care,” she bristled then cursed herself. Friendship didn't come easy to her and maybe she was a bit too defensive about it.

“Just making small-talk, sheesh. I deserve a courtesy fee if you're gonna bite my head off.” Julia mumbled an apology that was generally unsatisfactory for both parties. “That's better.”

After half an hour or so, the deed was done. Although Julia wanted to make sure it worked before having to take another trip there or back, she didn't want to show off Tau any more than she had to.

The clerk stopped her by the door. “Hold on. I've got something else for you, on the house.” Catching her hand, she slid a hard drive into Julia's grip. “No clue what kind of storage that thing has, but I doubt a cleaner has much. Make this count.” Caught off-guard and unsure how to react, she gave a slow nod and squeezed her hand before departing.

-=-=-=

Julia had made dozens of trips through town loaded with jewelry and tech but none had felt as vulnerable as this time. She just hoped she wasn't too conspicuous. “Okay, little buddy. Welcome home.”

Finding an available outlet, she plugged it in and watched with rapidly growing impatience that she felt souring to worry. “ _Tau?”_

“I am here.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of her taking the drone with her everywhere she goes and then having a docking station at home with increased memory, speakers, camera. Putting those smarts to work restoring a better body for Tau


End file.
